Inferential language use by youth with Down syndrome during narration.
Kids with Down syndrome need explicit work on inferential language and complex sentences during storytelling sessions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bao et al. (2017) asked youth with Down syndrome to tell a story. They compared the stories to ones told by kids without Down syndrome of the same age.
The team counted how often each child used inferential language. Inferential language means saying things that are not directly stated, like 'The boy is sad because his kite broke.'
What they found
Kids with Down syndrome used far fewer inferential sentences. Their stories stayed on the surface and missed causes or feelings.
The gap was partly linked to shorter, simpler sentences. When syntax was weak, inferences almost disappeared.
How this fits with other research
MacLean et al. (2011) saw the same struggle with reading questions that need inferences. The new study shows the problem starts in spoken stories, not just books.
Fabbretti et al. (1997) found small grammar slips in Down syndrome stories. Bao et al. (2017) now link those slips to the bigger issue of missing inferential language.
Finestack et al. (2017) offers hope. Their visual-supported narrative intervention brought small gains in story quality the same year A et al. showed the need.
Why it matters
When you work on storytelling with clients who have Down syndrome, do not stop at vocabulary. Prompt them to add 'because,' 'so,' and feeling words. Model full cause-and-effect sentences and give visual scaffolds. These steps attack both syntax and inference in one move.
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Join Free →Ask for a story, then model one inferential sentence ('She cried because the glass broke') and prompt the client to add their own 'because' line.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
We examined inferential language use by youth with Down syndrome (DS) in the context of narrative storytelling relative to younger typically developing (TD) children and same-aged peers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) matched on nonverbal cognitive ability level. Participants' narratives were coded for the use of different types of inferential language. Participants with DS used proportionately less inferential language overall relative to their counterparts with TD or FXS, although mean length of utterance accounted for group differences observed for the DS-TD group comparison only. Patterns of inferential language use varied across inferential subtypes and across participant groups, with mean length of utterance playing a significant role in group differences. These findings suggest potential syndrome specificity to the DS phenotype regarding impairments in inferential language use that can be partially explained by level of expressive syntactic ability and should be considered in future research. Clinical interventions within the DS population, therefore, should target to some extent the use of inferential language and complex sentence structure.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/07-0208)